Creature of Thousand Faces, Draft
by CrookedCrescent
Summary: Even HE deserves a second chance. FMA Brotherhood. IMPORTANT: This is a DRAFT of final story.
1. No Heaven Nor Hell

**First of all, English isn't my native language. **

**The story is based upon Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood series.**

**All of the canon characters belong to their respective creator, Hiromu Arakawa. The rest are mine.**

**This is a draft of final story. Lets say, I've been trying myself out in fan-fiction writing. I've learned a thing or two since.**

**The final version of the story can be found on my page. **

**I hope you'll enjoy it nonetheless.**

* * *

><p>Warmth. The first thing he felt.<p>

Warmth.

Then he heard a faint rustle coming from somewhere far, far away.

Silence, being almost deafening, was physically covering his still paralyzed mind.

Not a sound. Not a scream. Not even a laugh. No more voices. Nothing at all.

Just a rustle.

What was it, after all? Was he finally dead?

Slowly, painfully he opened his eyes, prepared to face the overwhelming infinite darkness of place that exists beyond death. Or that should exist, at least. That was what he deserved. The only thing he deserved. And desired. What else could be left there for him, after all? For all that he has done… And for all he hasn't?

But instead of whatever awaits him after death, he heard this unexpected sound:

"Well, at least you're alive."

What? What was it? What the hell was it?

When blurriness has faded from his sight, he found himself looking straight into a pale face. Human face. Big, glassy dark-green eyes were examining him with some sort of curiosity and confidence. It was a woman. She was young. She had long platinum curls.

Who was this human?

He still felt pain pulsing in his broken body. It wasn't physical pain which he was used to and which he could easily stand. It was some other kind of pain—thousand times more destructive, million times more humiliating. It left him speechless, helpless and pathetic.

"What a strange creature… I've never seen anything like this. Oh well. I hope it isn't poisonous or something."

What the hell? Couldn't this stupid human just leave him alone? After all what happened… he just wanted to be left alone. Forever. Didn't she see that he wasn't in a mood of chatting?

Wait.

She called him a «strange creature». She didn't know who he is.

"Poor thing. Are you hurt?" She asked.

This was just not right.

He shut his eyes closed again as tight as he could in a vain attempt to banish this all away. And felt a little tear of panic and despair being squeezed out of them.

He wasn't dead. He wasn't burned to ashes.

Why couldn't he remember anything?

Warmth. Again. Gently brushed against his cold slippery skin as lightly as velvet. He opened his eyes and saw that it was her hand. Delicate thin fingers were running up and down his side in a comforting manner. Soft as a biscuit. Explosion of hundreds of unfamiliar emotions ran through his head. Nobody touched him like this. Nobody had ever asked if he was hurt. Nobody cared.

Nobody, but her. That mysterious human.

"Seems like no. Alright, then. Rest, sweetheart. I'll be looking after you."

He lifted his eyes at her. She was smiling tenderly. Her hand was still covering half of his small body, like a warm blanket. And before he could carefully think it all over—he felt his eyelids suddenly becoming too heavy to hold open.

So he closed them.

And moment after the fathomless blackness of sound sleep softly entwined about his weary conscience.

This is how it started. This is when his inner world begun to fall apart.


	2. Berries of Confusion

He woke up after… well he didn't know how much time had passed. But this time the first thing that he felt was the sweetest smell of fresh cherries, and something else—he didn't have a clue. He opened his eyes and realized that his mind was much clearer now. He found himself lying on top of a little pillow. A pair of equally little glass plates were standing next to it. One resembled a bowl and was filled with cold water. Second one was flat and had cherries, sliced cucumber, salad and small pieces of raw meat and fish lumped together beckoningly on it.

Huh.

Honestly, this was beyond weird. What was he, a new pet or something? This was ridiculous.

And about that platinum girlie…

He took a look around. She wasn't there. The pillow and the plates were placed on a table, which was standing next to wall of sunlit room. The room was rather small; it had bookcases, fireplace and two leather armchairs. And a rug. No, wait, there was more. In the far corner he noticed a miniature piano. It looked almost like a toy stylized as the genuine one, but in fact it _was_ the real piano. So, that girl was a musician, huh?

Carefully he tried to stand up. His body was weak and trembling. Slowly he began to move his little stumpy feet up and down, creeping away from the pillow, closer to the plate with food. Yeah, he didn't really have to eat at all. But he hasn't eaten anything tasty in about… uh, long enough to be certainly fascinated with delicious treats. And that human obviously wanted him to eat, so what? It isn't like he was being nice or something.

He grabbed a cherry and noticed with delight that it still had some little drops of fresh water glistening on its peel. Without further hesitation he threw the berry into his mouth. Mm, yummy! It was so sweet and juicy—it could've made him smile if he had any lips. Then he reached for cucumber and salad. Not so sweet of course, but still pleasant. Next was meat and fish. It didn't actually have any taste since it's raw, but to him it tasted like heaven. He hadn't quite noticed just how rapidly he finished the whole «breakfast». He made quite a mess though—it's pretty difficult to be neat when your mouth is vertical, you know.

And then he heard the door being crudely kicked open. He must've jumped a meter up and landed precisely into the plate of water, splashing it all out. Geez!

With wide opened eyes he observed the girl walking inside with hands full of books and bags. Now he saw that she was quite short and petite. She looked like a fourteen old. He briefly wondered just how such a fragile figure is capable of enduring this kind of weight.

She dropped all the stuff on one of the armchairs and let out a frustrated sigh. Then she turned her head and saw him sitting in the pool of water (which he was supposed to drink, actually).

And her jaw dropped open in pure shock.

"Oh! You're awake!" In one leap she crossed the room and appeared standing right next to the table.

"I'm sorry, I must've scared you—but I'm so used to you always sleeping like a corpse… Hey, you even ate the food! Oh wow, after such a long sleep - it's a miracle you're still breathing!"

He sat there, stupefied, blinking. After such a long sleep? Just how long was that sleep? If he slept for so long—what about the food? It looked fresh enough. Did she, what, place a new plate of food every day (or maybe even every five hours?) next to him, in case he woke up and felt hungry? He felt a small strike of sympathy somewhere deep inside of his chest—he hated and loved it at the same time. It actually touched him, although he dismissed the feeling right away.

His inner train of thoughts jumped the track when she clapped her hands loudly and, surprisingly, began to laugh. Although it wasn't a piercing, boisterous laugh that human girls usually had. Her laugh was smooth and melodious.

"Wow, I can't believe it!" She said. "I've been waiting for this since the day I found you!"

For a couple of moments, she just stood there, staring at him, grinning like a fool.

Then suddenly her smile became a little mischievous and slowly she reached for him as if she wanted to pet him.

At first he just stood still: some part of his mind was hungrily waiting for her to touch him, for it felt so different and new to him. He could've surrendered to these feelings, and let her caress him again, and again. He could've pretended to be an animal, a pet, and would've never returned to the past of obscure reality. But his old cruel self won't let itself be so easily forgotten.

Oh no—he wouldn't go soft just because some human girl had nice hands. No way. So he violently clenched his teeth in a vigorous bite, accompanying this move with aggressive hissing sounds.

But she jerked her hand away quickly enough for him to miss. "Aha! Yes! Now I'm absolutely sure you're in a great shape!" She exclaimed cheerfully.

He frowned. Oh well. What a waste. She definitely acted like a madman.

"Alrighty then. I'll bring you more food… And, if you enjoy sitting in water like this, I can even make you a swimming pool!" Giggling, she proceeded to clean up the table with a napkin.

Pouting even more (he didn't like to be laughed at) he crawled out of the water, carnivorously watching her hands move around the table top. He caught a faint scent of daisy soap on her skin while doing so.

Then she stopped for a moment and looked at him closely as if she suddenly recalled something. "You know, your eyes look so understanding." She said thoughtfully.

He froze.

And then she said something painfully similar to what he had heard before.

That word.

That monstrous, murderous word.

"Almost human."


	3. Beast Named Kindness

It hurt more than a bullet piercing his body. More than a flame twirling on his skin.

_NO! No, don't compare me to human, you idiot!_

He yelled inwardly, his limbs beginning to quake in irritation and hurt.

_Don't remind me! I can't bear one more pathetic human pointing at it! _

_At my weakness… _

_No…_

He felt a wave of tears being mercilessly pushed to his eyes—he couldn't help it. His entire body began to shake heavily and in a desperate try to hide somewhere, he squeezed himself under the pillow; his breath shattered in feeble sobs, while his mind kept on repeating one phrase:

_I'm not a human! I am NOT A HUMAN!_

The girl obviously wasn't ready for a reaction like this. And she never saw an ordinal animal crying before, too.

"Uh… Oh, I'm sorry… I didn't mean to offend you…" She said irresolutely, stunned.

When he didn't stop weeping, she hesitated for a moment (keeping in mind the unsuccessful bite) and carefully lifted the pillow. Creature under it flinched, and raised his large wet eyes to meet with hers. She reached for him and picked him up on her palms. And then pressed him gently against her chest. He didn't try to bite her. He didn't move at all.

She, an unknown human girl, was holding the most ruthless murderer that world had ever known tightly to her heart, trying to relieve him so motherly. Rarely one could observe such a contrast.

At first, he automatically tried to push himself away and twist out of her hands. It wasn't comfortable for him to be pitied, especially by human. But then something made him stop. And do the exact opposite. He grasped her clothes in his tiny hands, just like a little child, and buried his face into soft folds of her shirt.

It was made of something that resembled silk. It smelled of flowers. He could even hear a faint rumble of her heart inside.

It was so strange to be that close to being that he used to hate so much. He had human blood splattered all over his body multiple times. Was he sorry? Hardly. In fact, in those moments he felt satisfaction. He felt himself almost almighty. He felt himself way above them all. He _liked_ it. Yeah, he did.

But now something's changed. Indeed, it has. What would happen to this poor young girl if she tried to hug him a while ago, when he was the ordinal self? No, this question was wrong. What would happen to _him?_ He hated humans. He _loathed_ them. And it didn't matter if they were kind to him—it never affected his attitude towards them. So the answer is—he'd get really angry. And he wouldn't hesitate from pushing her away hard enough to hurt her. And that'll be the most harmless thing that he'd do to her.

But to feel sympathy? Even gratitude?

No. _Hell_, no.

And now he didn't feel any hate. He didn't feel anything at all. The only thing he felt–was his own weakness. And it upset him. Because it wasn't like him. He wasn't used to feel himself weak.

And the human girl… she was _kind_.

Gradually he stopped crying.

And surprisingly for himself—he felt better.

Much better.

"Well how are you?" She asked in a soft caring voice when she noticed that he wasn't shuddering anymore.

He didn't make a sound. He just slowly drew his hands away and looked down. He felt embarrassed.

The girl considered it a positive sign. She stroked his head fondly with her thumb and placed him back to the pillow.

"Okay then. I'll go get you some food and stuff." And she left and took the plates with her.

Once again he was left face to face with his thoughts.

What was happening to him? What were those things he felt when she touched him? Why wasn't he getting angry at her? Why wasn't he trying to escape? Why wasn't he striving to return to Father and other homunculi that are left?

And… why hadn't they come for him?...

Didn't they care?...

He, Envy, who killed innocent people: men, children, women, just like one that was holding him seconds ago—was left behind? What about those promises Father had given to each of them? To give them lives, homes, hopes? Where is he now? Lust is dead. Greed is lost. And he had no idea where are others now.

He raised his hands and clenched them into little fists.

He had to find out what is going on.


	4. The Newt

It wasn't as easy as it sounded. He couldn't even manage to get down from the damn table on his own. It wasn't really comfortable to just jump down to the cold rigid floor. He may be immortal (sort of) but he was perfectly able to feel pain.

So his first task consisted in handling the movement. It was unbelievable just how helpless he was in this form. But if he will be able to freely move around the house, he'd search it for any kind of newspaper or something similar. He didn't even know what date it was after all. It might be so that the Promised Day should arrive any time soon. That actually would've explained why nobody came for him. His siblings and Father should be very busy luring the sacrifices into the place. And Envy should be participating in it, as he was especially good at tricking people.

But obviously he couldn't do much without additional Philosopher's Stones. The one that he had left had only enough energy to keep him alive.

Fortunately, the problem of mobility had been solved pretty quickly. In a couple of days the girl developed a habit to tell him different things she had on her mind. Of course, her thoughts weren't really informative for him and, most of the times, he wasn't listening. But because of that habit of hers, she eventually started to carry him along with her. This was the advantage of her living alone. She had none to talk to, besides him.

So she always kept him next to her wherever she was in the house. Well except for the bathroom, of course. And he was kind of grateful to her for that. Some people may think that because of gender shifting abilities he had no sexual orientation. But he did have it. He was a homunculus after all, not a mollusc!

And the days went by. The weather was getting hotter and hotter every single day. It didn't quite feel like spring anymore. Each morning he was spending looking through the window and waiting for color of the sun to change from blinding white to bloody crimson, as a sign of the eclipse and the Promising Day come. But it wasn't happening. He was getting more and more nervous about it. It was taking too long. And plus to that, unfortunately, the damn human appeared to be careless about newspapers. Most of them were terribly outdated. And the rest was totally ancient.

Although he had to admit - it was nice to be carried around the house. He had a good view on things and he felt himself amusingly comfortable. Though, sometimes it seemed that the girl wasn't even aware of him sitting on her shoulder—she's got used to lower her open palm down for him without even realizing it.

During the «chatting» times, he found out that she isn't in fact a fourteen old, because sometimes she told him stories that took place in a university. And fourteen years old children usually attended school. He supposed she was around twenty or perhaps twenty-one. However he was right when he assumed that she's a musician. She really played on that tiny toy-like piano in some restaurants. Sometimes she practiced along with him sitting on top of the piano. Maybe it'll be considered ridiculous for someone like him—but he was fond of music. He truly enjoyed listening to her sing and play. Well, everybody has bugs in their heads, right?

And when she was gone—he sat and thought. He tried to remember just how he survived. He tried to calculate just how many days he wasted. He remembered clearly being nearly burned to death by that Mustang idiot. And he remembered the Elric pipsqueak giving him the psychological lecture afterwards. He remembered himself crying and screaming… and then—nothing.

As frustrating as it was—that certain pipsqueak said the truth back there. The truth that the homunculus was afraid to accept himself. Even though he hated human beings—in the innermost of his mind he always desired to be one. It _was_ the_ reason_ of his hate.

He was so jealous of humans that he couldn't even stand to actually think about it. He was even jealous of other homunculi because despite them being inhuman—their original forms _resembled_ ones, while all what _he_ could do—was just mimicking. Well, Pride and Father were different too, but their abilities were of such power that he, Envy, will never be able to obtain.

That useless brat of an alchemist made him to realize it in full. He actually opened his eyes. Made him to turn and face his inner self—his _real_ self—the smallest, the weakest and the most despicable homunculus from all.

All his cruelty, all his cunning, all his strength—all those things he had self-respect for—were as fake as his human form, which he considered his «normal» because he liked to trick himself into thinking that it was what he actually is. Although even that particular form—was actually a generalized character, whose body consisted from various parts of different real people, which he has seen during his long life. It was like he was collecting the features which he liked the most and which looked well altogether. Of course he wasn't just copying—he was adding his own creativeness as well. It all made that form look quite androgynous, because sometimes he couldn't really remember whose part was it: male or female, or he couldn't decide. They were beautiful and it was all what mattered to him. He may not actually understand beauty—but he really admired it.

The funny thing was—before Greed left, that bastard was constantly taunting him because of it. Lust did too, softly. But she also said that she liked the form he created nonetheless. But later it actually convinced him to replace some parts to something more masculine. It was hilarious to see humans' faces when they can't decide whether they see a woman or a man in front of them, but on some deeper level it was a little irritating as well. Guess that's because he was «planned» rather as a male than a female. Psyche wasn't for shape-shifting, you know.

Returning to the point of survival—all he could manage to recall - was rain. Ice-cold, stone-heavy drops were hitting his face with sound that resembled little explosions. Well, it was something. Maybe he managed to slip into some pipe and get out to the surface? But why, why couldn't he remember this?

He waited for another week. And still nothing. No sight of his siblings. No sounds of agony from the streets. No serpentine inky hands were growing from the floor. Nothing.

And the girl was getting attached to him more and more. And sometimes he had a funny feeling that perhaps so did he. However he tried not to think about it at all. But he rather enjoyed the role of a pet. All he had to do—is just eat his food and splash the water all over the table. Nothing was expected from him, so he could do whatever a pet does and receive endearment he never had. He felt himself secure not only from the outside world and reality but from his distorted self as well.

But he knew it was just an illusion that won't last forever. He couldn't run away from himself. He was a _homunculus_, not a pet. And he needed information. He had to return to his Father. And plus the girl obviously had friends to tell about a «strange creature» she found. Somebody might find out. And Envy was more than sure that there will be somebody who'd want him dead. And it'd be so easy to kill him when he was in a form of a little «newt» (that was the stupid pet name the girl had given him).

Although don't you think that the Elric boy _changed_ Envy's nature. No. He humiliated him down to the limit, he wounded him fatally—yes, but Envy was still _alive_. And he was still _Envy_. It didn't mean that just because he knew his place now—he would submit. He may be weak and pathetic at his core, but it was _him_ who started the Civil War in Ishval with just one bullet! It was _him_ who murdered General Hughes!

He _was_ the same Envy from before.

Or so he thought to inspire himself.

He had to make the girl his puppet and thus—he had to speak.


	5. Butterfly

Later on Envy dearly regretted revealing his true identity to the girl, as it sent big cracks down their so-sweet pet-owner relationship. But it was that nasty little Destiny that pushed him onto this yellow brick road and there was no turning back. He had to proceed to the Castle and see what is hidden behind the Emerald Gates.

Perhaps there was something special waiting for him.

But before the calamity began to boil up inside the heartless homunculus' head—there was one little unimportant event that happened few weeks earlier. That certain event disturbed the calm ocean of Central City with the first waves of anxiety after the prolonged time of complete order.

Or, to be more precise, it wasn't an event—it was a picture.

One little unimportant picture.

"Hey, Shes!" The girl with long platinum curls called when she saw her good friend leaving the gates of Central Command.

It was late in the evening. It was getting dark.

"Oh, hi there!" Sheska reacted in a tired but still chirpy voice.

"I'm lucky to find you here! I'm just returning home from work and I was wondering how to catch you out." She said with a smile.

"Oh, yeah, I was about to go home too." Sheska smiled in return. "Is there something you wanted?" She asked.

The girl with two bags hanging over her shoulders (one was obviously a study bag and second one, much bigger, was intended for that toy-like piano of hers) nodded. "Yes, in fact, there's something I wanted to ask you about. I've found some weird animal species recently. I'm guessing it was badly hurt, because it's been sleeping since the very day I found it. I thought you may know a thing or two about it. I mean, you used to have access to the Central City Library - you should know stuff!" The girl said.

"Oh?" A spark of genuine curiosity flashed through Center Command clerk's dark-brown eyes. "What kind of species is that?"

"Well," The girl scratched her head trying to find words to describe her find. "It looks like some sort of reptile or amphibian, perhaps. It has eight legs though."

Sheska crooked her eyebrow in confuse. "Eight legs? I'm not sure I've ever came across any information on creatures with _eight legs_…"

"One second," Platinum girl said and shoved her hand into the smaller bag of hers, the one that was filled with university stuff. And pulled a small piece of paper out of it. "Here, I've sketched it. I suppose it'll be easier for you to recall something similar if you see it for yourself."

And she handed her the picture.

Sheska put her glasses straight and examined it carefully.

Giant round eyes with small thin pupils that looked horrifyingly human. Two pairs of front and two pairs of rear legs. Plus one long tail. And that atrocious vertical mouth crowded with tiny razor-like canines.

Weird species for an ordinal animal indeed.

However some images of recognition flashed through her head. She recalled something. Something that she had read about a while ago. But it wasn't an encyclopedia of nature, oh no.

It was on Alchemy. And monsters created with it.

Sheska's face has suddenly blanched with terror.

"Where exactly did you find this thing?" She breathed out.

"Uh, on the streets." The girl replied nonchalantly. "Is something wrong?"

"This thing… I'm not sure, but…" Sheska raised her widened eyes at her. "This thing looks like an artificially created being."

The platinum girl blinked. "Eh, come again?"

"Well… I've read about Alchemy a lot. I know that it isn't your thing and all, but the truth is—there are certain ways to create different, well, _living things_ using a Philosopher's Stone."

"And those «living things» being…?"

"Chimeras!" The brown-haired girl whispered warily as if somebody could overhear them. "And homunculi! The first are crossbreeds between different animal species and/or human. And the latter are artificial human beings! And they say that these are thousand times more dangerous than all the chimeras altogether!"

The platinum girl blinked again. She eyed the bookworm girl with a long stony stare.

Then, slowly, her lips cracked with a smirk and she doubled over in laughter, wiggling her finger at the girl with glasses in a «you-got-me-there» manner.

"Wait—wait a minute! Are you saying that the poor lil' fellow I picked up from the streets is actually some sort of a _scary alchemical monster_?" She said it with undisguised sneer. "Or even an artificial _human_? Seriously, _look_ at it! _Does_ it look _human_ to you? _Does it?_"

Then she shook her head, chuckling, literally scandalized by such an assumption.

"Are you _kidding_ me, Shes?"

Sheska crossed her arms on her chest and pouted childishly. "Hey! You asked me what I think and I said it! I'm not persisting in this creature _being_ a chimera or _being_ a homunculus! It's just what I thought it looks like! I don't know, maybe it's just a kitten made that creepy by your drawing style!"

The platinum girl inhaled deeply and looked at the picture in the clerk's hands. "Well, trust me, it _doesn't_ look like human at all."

Sheska made a helpless gesture. "They say those creatures can have different abilities and different shapes." She shrugged. "I don't know—I've never seen neither one for myself."

"Oh well." The platinum girl readjusted her bags and smoothed her wild hair with her porcelain-white hands. "Thanks for the info, Shes. I think I'll be going now. Whatever this thing is, I want to take care of it and see for myself if it's going to swallow me alive afterwards."

Sheska let out a short nervous laugh, mentally heaving a giant sigh of relief. She always felt herself a little apprehensive with this musician girl around. She had something in her… something gloomy. Her music, her drawings… and now that _animal_. Everything that platinum girl had interest in was monstrous in many ways.

"Alright. Bye then."

"See you 'round, Shes!" The platinum girl started to walk away, making loud clicking sounds with her heels in the thickening twilight of upcoming night.

It took Sheska a few seconds to finally realize that she was still grasping the picture in her hands.

"Oh, wait! Your drawing!..."

The girl didn't turn—she just waved her hand carelessly and yelled over her shoulder:

"Keep it!"

And so she did.

And so it was the butterfly that changed the world.


	6. Masks and Pillows

But of course Envy didn't know anything about that particular picture of him so well drawn by his platinum-haired «owner».

He knew nothing about the butterfly that was going to bring storm into his world which was already on the edge of Armageddon.

And so one day, he did what he intended to.

"Wake up."

She wrinkled her nose and uttered something incoherent.

"Rise and shine." Louder this time.

"Get off." She muttered threateningly without even flinching.

He narrowed his eyes maliciously.

That was it. No more Mr. Good Guy.

He crept closer to her head, trying not to get entangled in her shaggy platinum hair.

He stopped in a millimeter from her face. And then he did what he do the best in this form—he bit her nose. Relatively lightly.

For a start.

On this she reacted without a slightest delay, namely—she bolted out of the bed as fast as a flash so vigorously that he barely avoided being rudely knocked off. Pillows and blanket, on the contrary, weren't so lucky.

"_WHAT THE HELL!_" She squealed, gazing around madly and clutching her nose with her fingers which made her voice sound snuffling.

Envy gave her a moment to realize that there was nothing threating her life. He needed her to take it easy. It won't help if she will run away screaming.

Finally, she relaxed. She straightened her nightie, still looking quite puzzled, and bent down to pick up the pillows and blanket from the floor.

And that's when she noticed the little swamp-green spot right in the center of her perfectly white sheets—the only thing that was left on the bed.

He was sitting there as still as a statue, watching her with rather gravely look.

"What are you doing in my bed?" She asked crazily—it seemed like she wasn't sure if she was still sleeping or not.

He waited a second before answering coldly. "I was just waiting for you to wake up."

"Oh. Right." She let out a small snicker as if she was baffled just how she didn't think of it herself.

And then her face froze and went paler than usual. The beddings fell from her weakened fists back to the dusty floor. Slowly, very slowly she turned her head to face the little creature sitting on her bed.

"No, you're not dreaming. And yes, it is me who's speaking." He responded casually before she voiced her questions.

"O… kay…" She replied in a scarcely hearable voice.

They stared at each other for about a minute.

And then her face got distorted in deep mortification and she pointed her long thin finger at him. "You _bit_ me!"

"Yeah. Oh well," He jeered sarcastically. "Punish me for that then..." And then added almost bloodthirstily: "…_Mistress._"

She pouted her lips and covered herself with a pillow (which she picked up, again) sheepishly without even realizing it.

And then out of the sudden and without a single noise she pounced back onto the bed and started to attack him that certain pillow.

Oh boy, he was prepared for anything but _this!_ He muffled out a short shriek and tried to flee but those stupid legs were too short (and there were way too many of them) to give him any chance to escape the black shadow of ridiculously huge downy pillow approaching him with horrific supersonic speed.

"Hey! HEY! STOP! STOP, DAMN IT! _STOP IT!_ Ouch! My… TAIL! STOP! You'll… _KILL_ ME!"

"You aren't my little newt!_"_ She shouted in pauses between vicious pillow slaps. "What have you done to my little newt? He was nice and sweet—and you're RUDE AND SCARY!"

"I WAS _PRETENDING_, YOU IDIOTIC HUMAN!" He growled as loudly as he possibly could right before she pressed him down with a pillow once again.

It made her stop.

Grumbling curses, he scrambled out from under the pillow. He felt dizzy from bouncing like a rubber ball during the whole thing. Damned bed was way too resilient.

"P-Pretending?…" She breathed out, her voice getting weak again. "You mean… You're not… a…"

"Congratulations!" He snarled, trying to regain coordination of his movements. "You finally got it!"

"But… Who… What…?"

Before he could answer, she covered her mouth with her hands and arched her eyebrows in a frightened expression.

"Aren't you saying… That… You're… actually… a… Chim… Chim… or even a… Hom… Homun…" To the end of this stumbling phrase her voice rose to nearly an ultrasound pitch.

He looked at her closely and frowned. "Am I a homunculus?" He felt a short shot of alarm inside. "How did you know?"

"Um… I'm… I don't know… I mean… I don't really know what it is… But…" She swallowed hard and cleared her throat. "Are you?"

If he had a heart—he would feel it quickening its beats. His time here was running out. Even if she didn't know what a «homunculus» was—she definitely heard this word somewhere. Seems like somebody told her. Answered her question. Probably about him.

Somebody who _knows_.

This was bad. This was very bad.

He had to find a way to reunite with his family as soon as possible. Or somebody might get hurt. And he had a nasty feeling that this «somebody» will be none other than him.

"Yes, I am." He sat in front of her and looked right into her eyes with heavy, piercing-through glare. "I'm a homunculus, even though I may…" He stammered. "…I may not resemble one. I'm not in my best shape at this moment, if you know what I mean."

She didn't make a sound and so he continued.

"Look, all these days I was acting like a pet because I had certain troubles concerning my... _mind_ and memory. So I was making time to think about where the hell I am and what the hell is going on." He lowered his eyes for a second, recalling those stone-heavy drops of rain hitting his face. "I've lost my track of time."

There was a small pause.

She began to collapse but managed to move her hands under herself in time. She was so shocked that she nearly lost strength to hold herself erect.

"Before you faint," Envy said, screwing his eyes up in irritation. "I want to assure you—I mean no harm to you."

"Said the little talking _newt_." She added blankly.

"_Don't call me that!_" He snapped out.

"What do I call you then? Mr. Scary Talking Newt a.k.a. the Homunculus?"

He scoffed. It was _his_ knack to mock people like that!

"Envy."

She blinked. "What?"

"My name is Envy."

"Envy? That's why you're green?" She almost laughed. _Almost_.

He eyed her with pure hatred.

"Okay-okay, I'm sorry, I'm just joking." She smiled helplessly and raised her hands in a conciliatory gesture. With a short hesitation she held her hand out for a handshake.

"Nice to meet you, Envy. I'm Jena."

And she gently shook his tiny hand with her thumb and forefinger.

He snatched his hand away and said nothing.

Well. It was rather okay for a meeting.

However the clouds above their heads were smoothly getting black.


	7. Bitter, Bitter Truth

Envy gave her opportunity to dress and tidy herself up. Of course, the girl won't offer him any chance to watch her (not that he wanted to, mind you), so she took him back to the room with the fireplace and leather armchairs.

So he was sitting on his pillow which had become his new home since the day it happened, waiting, trying to come up with a reliable plan of using the girl to get him out of here.

After fifteen minutes, Jena finally walked into the room.

"Well, sir Envy, your personal elevator has arrived." She said solemnly, picking him up again. He kind of got used to be toyed with like this—it stopped bothering him a while ago. Although her obvious jesting was ticking him off.

"Don't you think that now when you know who I am—you could as well show some respect here?" He suggested gloomily.

"Respect is one of such things you should earn first, Envy." She responded with a cocky smile, sinking into the armchair with him. "So, Envy." It seemed like she liked the sounding of his name a bit too much. "Would you mind telling me just how the homunculus—such a rare creature!—appeared in the big Central City? I sense a good story here."

Envy sighed in irritation and exhaustion, moving from her palms to the arm of the armchair. "It's something I wanted _you_ to tell me. As I've already said—I don't remember a damn thing."

"Well, you should remember at least _something_." Jena noted reasonably.

"Hold on there." Envy said. He couldn't let the girl ask questions just yet. The less she knew about him—the greater the chance of her helping him out. So he lied. "I will tell you everything I can later. Now I need you to answer _my_ questions."

"Oh, so now you're questioning me? Alright, go ahead then—I'm all ears."

And so he began.

"First of all, where did you find me?"

"On the streets. It was around four in the evening, I was walking home from university." She looked somewhere above him with her eyes seemingly focused on the image of that day in her memory. "At first I thought you were dead. But when I looked closer I saw your sides move. And I decided to take you home and see what I can do to make you feel better. I mistook you for some poor wounded animal, you know. I haven't had a slightest idea of you being something else. At home I examined you and haven't found any visible damage, so I just waited for you to wake up." When she finished, she looked down at him and rested her head on her hands.

_Huh,_ Envy thought with grim enjoyment, _you just don't know how amusingly stupid you are. Poor thing. You have no idea whose life you saved, have you? _He hemmed to himself. _I just love watching those human girls—their sweet caring nature ultimately brings them to their graves._

For a second she reminded him of a certain Xinese girl that had helped him unintentionally a while ago. Seems like they were all the same—typical oversensitive humans. And in a gust of that memory—he said to Jena what he had said to that girl back then. "That is very kind of you." Ah, pity he couldn't crack his trademark grin. "Very kind." And then he asked the next question. "For how long was I asleep?"

Jena pondered for a moment and then answered. And that honest answer of hers ruined the whole pleasure from memories of good old times, when Envy still felt himself strong and unshakeable, abruptly returning him to this somber nightmare. "Around a month, maybe a little more."

He choked on his own breath. "A _month_? A _whole_ month?"

"Yeah. I even suspected you being in some sort of coma, you know."

"No… It can't be…" He mumbled, glancing around madly with overcoming panic. "It _should_ be still April!"

"It's the middle of May, actually." She bent her eyebrow curiously. "Is something—"

"Did anything weird happen?" He shot out before she could finish her question. "Something… I don't know—massive? Tremendous? Horrifying? Unexplainable? Like a mass death or something? Anything?"

Even though Envy understood that his question didn't make any sense, because if a mass death actually took place—he wouldn't have that girl sitting next to him in the first place. But he blurted his question out before he reconsidered its structure, and the reason for that was quite justified.

He knew for a fact that the Promised Day was scheduled on _April 23._ That was the day of eclipse, the day when the whole Universe sets itself in a specific order.

The day when Father opens the planet's Gateway and acquires the God himself!

Obviously there _could not_ be another chance...

_Damn it!_

What has gone wrong? Where could it _possibly_ go wrong?

Jena stared at him dully. "Eh, weird you say?"

Then her face flushed with realization.

And with one single stroke the whole Envy's world, whole his life, all of his hopes, all of his _everything_—was blown to smithereens.

"Ah! Yeah. There was a strange event not so long ago. It wasn't a mass _death_ though—rather a mass passing out. You know, I had concert at The Nightingale Restaurant when it happened. The strange coincidence—there was an eclipse that day. Out of sudden I remember myself fainting during my performance. Well… it didn't quite feel like I'm just losing my conscience—it rather felt like I was… _dying_. Like I was having a heart attack or something. Furthermore—it seemed like I'm being dragged into some place dark and bottomless. Creepy, huh? That was terrible. And it wasn't just me—that teeny-tiny moment before my eyesight went black, I saw the people in the restaurant fall from their chairs and hit their meals with their faces. Sounds like a horror story, right? But it actually happened."

His breathing stopped and he didn't even notice it. His eyeballs itched from being motionlessly open for too long. His mind refused to perceive this information.

"…Envy? What's wrong? Are you alright?" He heard her worried voice coming from some other galaxy.

What she told could mean only one thing.

The Promised Day, the Day of Reckoning—failed.

_Father_ failed.

They all must've been defeated. _Killed_.

Pride. Sloth. Gluttony. Greed. Wrath. Lust.

Each of them should've been turned to _ashes_.

Did it… Did it mean that he was the only one left, _alone in the entire world?_

No.

_No!_

_What_ was he supposed to _do_ then_?_ All what he fought for, all what he _lived_ for…

…was _gone_.

"Oh, what's gotten into you now…" Her soft murmur. Her warm gentle fingers twined his body around and began to stroke him lightly, attempting to bring him back to reality.

"It's okay, Envy. It's okay. Calm down."

"It is _impossible_." He managed to utter and glared at her. "You must be lying."

Her fingers stiffened and she sighed in annoyance. "Why would I lie to you? What is the big deal after all?" She narrowed her eyes in a playful suspicion. "Do you, what, have something to do with it?"

He glanced at her desperately and then looked away. His body quivered in her embrace. No, he couldn't possibly believe that Father was dead. Father can't die. He's the most powerful creature on the Earth! No, it was impossible. He must've escaped. And Envy should find him.

But if—only _if_—Father was _actually_…

Suddenly he realized that he was staring at thin pale skin of her fingers. He blinked. A strange and unexpected thought ran past his mind:

…Then she might be the only one who left by his side.

At this moment he was glad he couldn't smile. Because he doubted he'd manage to fight it down.

He still had hope. So he lied to her. "No. I don't."

"But you seemed quite startled by that story. Why?" She stroked him again. Damn. She prevents him from thinking clearly.

"I haven't done asking my questions." Envy said coldly, recovering his mask of impenetrability, pushing his emotions back into the depths of his soul.

"Oh, you're one stubborn creature." Jena rolled her eyes and propped her chin with her fist. "Okay, what else do you want to know?"

"I can see you have nothing to do with Alchemy. How did you find out about homunculi and chimeras? Most of the people aren't even aware they exist. Who told you?"

"It's my friend, Sheska. She was a librarian in the past, but now she works in Central Command. She's a hopeless bookworm—she told me she found it in some Alchemy book."

Sheska. How he knew that name? Where did he hear it? Sheska. Sheska.

"_You know what? I've got my job here because of General Hughes…"_

Ah, yes. He remembered. That's the girl who notified him about Mustang's investigation into Hughes' case.

Hell, it's getting worse and worse each minute.

"Geez. You must've informed the whole Central Command about me. _Great_. That's just _great_." Envy slapped his face with his little palm. "Damn it."

_Stupid_ girl.

"Uh…" Jena's expression resembled one of a guilty child. "Even if it's so—what's wrong with that?"

The possibility of facing Colonel Mustang again sent huge chills down Envy's spine. Also he had no desire to see the pipsqueak's face again.

But of course Envy had no intention to tell Jena the truth. So he thought of a beautiful lie. "Don't you… oh right, you have no idea. Well you see, there're certain people in Central Command who dislike homunculi like me. And those certain people and your so-called _friend_ can have something in common. They find us unworthy to live. They call us _monsters_, _beasts_, _spawns of hell_ and so on. But in fact we're just artificial humans, and that's it. But in spite of that they're still striving to _exterminate_ us at any costs." Envy put all of his actor talent into the next phrase. "Trust me, I _know_ what I'm talking about! _They killed my sister! They incinerated her before my very eyes!_"

Jena's lips curved in great sympathy and Envy smirked to himself with triumph.

"This is _awful!_ I could never… I could never imagine that she's… I mean, I can't really say I know her _well_, but…"

"…_And they say that these are thousand times more dangerous than all the chimeras altogether!"_

"But how can you know for sure?" He finished for her.

"I… I can't…" She had no objections. Envy just tipped the scale to his side. "Poor homunculi… It's so unfair… _Everyone_ deserves to live!"

"If only they were as understanding as you." He said with fake thankful smile in his voice. "I narrowly escaped with my life that time. You were right when you considered me hurt. I _was_ hurt. I was _very_ hurt." And of course time for a little flattering. "And I would've died if it weren't for you."

Her cheeks flushed with pink and she smiled modestly. Even more guilt appeared on her face. "And I revealed you to your enemies… I'm… I'm so sorry, Envy! I didn't know! What can I do for you? How can I protect you? I'll do anything! Just tell me!"

_Oh you will_, Envy thought with insidious delight. _You will_.

"There's only one thing that can help me. Now tell me, do you know anything about Philosopher's Stones?" He asked.

"Well, I know that this is the thing you were… uh, created with, isn't it?" Jena surmised uncertainly.

"Yes, indeed. It is my core. And it's damaged. In order to heal it—I need another Philosopher's Stone to merge it with. It's the only way for a homunculus to regenerate himself. How do you think, could you find me one?"

She thought it over and then said with steel determination of a mother defending her baby. "I will do what I can. I promise, Envy, I won't let you down."

Surely the chance of her actually finding the Stone was rather small. But if she had connections in Central Command—she had a good starting point. She was his ticket to freedom after all.

Deep inside Envy's human-like lips crooked into his ghastly macabre grin.

_That's it, my noble foolish girl. That's it._


	8. Author's Note

**[Author's Note]**

**Unfortunately, I have to disappoint those people who have read this story and sincerely enjoyed it the way it is.**

**I'm honestly glad you did.**

**I'm not going to give it up, no. The point is—lately I've been doing research on Envy's character in order to be able to portray him right enough (or at the very least believable), since he**_** is**_** the main character of the story, and I realized that I did a terrible job on getting him right in these few chapters that I've already posted. It's because when I started writing I had very little idea of his psychology.**

**Perhaps there **_**is**_** some kind of charm in that he turned out so sensitive and emotional in these chapters, but I have interest in writing a story about **_**Envy**_**, not somebody else. And since it is a **_**fan**_** story—I have no right to alter canon characters because people love them the way they are. **

**It is my mistake, huge mistake. I feel really bad about it.**

**And since I've already started this all—I'm willing to try again from a scratch.**

**I'm not going to change the main idea. But I'll write new chapters from the beginning and try something slightly different this time, so it won't be boring to read. I don't know if I'll do a better job this time or not, but I want to try and see. I will be posting them as a new story and leave the current one be for those who liked it.**

**If I will fail again—it'll be enough for me to reconsider writing fan-stories in general.**

**But in my defense I want to say that it's not that easy to understand a foreign character as it holds in itself the soul and inner world of another person. And since that person's life experience and intelligence may be much wider than mine—I can only attempt to portray the percentage that I'm capable of understanding myself.**

**And as it appears I can understand more than I've written so far.**

**I'm aware that I did the stupidest thing in posting the story without thinking it over first. I don't know if I can ask for forgiveness or not. My stupidity knows no boundaries. I also can't imagine how those people who were waiting for new chapters will feel while reading this author's note. **

**I'm sorry. I'm truly sorry.**

**And for those who are reading this story and this note altogether for the first time—consider it a draft.**

**I hope you all will understand me equally.**

_**With bottomless pool of apologies, CrookedCrescent.**_


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